Parts transferring apparatus

ABSTRACT

An object of the present invention is to minimize a fear of damaging parts when they are transferred from a carry-in cassette to a carry-out cassette and to shorten a transferring time. Tip end portions of a thrusting-down pin  30  and a suction collet  50  are brought into contact with a back face of an adhesive sheet  11  of a carry-in cassette  10  to thrust down a semiconductor chip  1  and the thrust-down semiconductor chip  1  is received on a carry-out cassette  20 A,  20 B, or  20 C and stuck on an adhesive sheet  21 A,  21 B, or  21 C of a receiving face  201 A,  201 B, or  201 C of the carry out cassette  20 A,  20 B, or  20 C.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a parts transferring apparatus forstripping off a plurality of parts stuck on an adhesive sheet of acarry-in cassette and transferring the parts onto a carry-out cassette.

2. Description of the Related Art

Representative examples of parts transferred in this manner areelectronic parts such as a light-emitting diode, a resistor, and acapacitor. These parts are normally stuck on an adhesive sheet afterproduction and are set in a carry-in cassette while they are still onthe adhesive sheet. Then, a rank of the parts on the carry-in cassetteare determined by an inspection device and the parts on the adhesivesheet are stripped off by the parts transferring apparatus andsuccessively transferred to the carry-out cassettes corresponding to theranks.

There are prior-art parts transferring apparatus of a suction type (seeJapanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2000-43832 and the like, forexample) in which parts are held by a suction collet by suction and of awheel type (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 08-37395 andthe like, for example) in which parts are stripped off by astripping-off wheel and a thrusting-down collet.

However, according to the above pieces of prior art, there is a fearthat the parts may be damaged in suction by the suction collet in thesuction type and in stripping off by the stripping-off wheel in thewheel type. The suction type is more commonly used as the partstransferring apparatus than the wheel type when the parts stripped offfrom the adhesive sheet need to be transferred to the predeterminedcarry-out cassette. However, it is necessary to move the suction colletfrom the carry-in cassette to the carry-out cassette, though a distanceof this movement is long. In this regard, it is difficult to shorten atransferring time of the part.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been made against the above-describedbackground and it is an object of the invention to provide a partstransferring apparatus with which there is almost no fear that the partsare damaged when they are transferred from the carry-in cassette to thecarry-out cassette and the transferring time can be shortened.

A parts transferring apparatus according to the present invention is anapparatus for stripping off a plurality of parts attached on an adhesivesheet of a carry-in cassette and transferring the parts onto a carry-outcassette, the apparatus comprising: a carry-in cassette allowingattachment of an adhesive sheet onto a lower face thereof for attachingthe plurality of parts, a thrusting-down pin having a tip end portioncontactable with a back face of the adhesive sheet through an opening inthe carry-in cassette, a pin moving mechanism coupled to a base endportion of the thrusting-down pin for relatively moving thethrusting-down pin in a vertical direction, between a stripping-offposition where the tip end portion of the thrusting-down pin is incontact with the back face of the adhesive sheet to strip off the partsand a retracting position where the tip end portion is not in contactwith the carry-in cassette; a carry-out cassette having a receiving facefor receiving the parts thrust down by convex deformation of theadhesive sheet of the carry-in cassette as a result of contact of thetip end portion of the thrusting-down pin with the adhesive sheet, thereceiving face being attached with an adhesive sheet for receiving theparts, a cassette moving mechanism for moving the carry-in cassette andthe carry-out cassette, and a control unit for controlling the pinmoving mechanism and the cassette moving mechanism according to asequence pattern required to successively transfer the plurality ofparts on the carry-in cassette onto the carry-out cassette.

Preferably, the apparatus further includes a suction collet including ahollow cylinder slightly smaller than the parts and allowing insertionof the thrusting-down pin therethrough, and a collet moving mechanismcoupled to a base end portion of the suction collet for relativelymoving the suction collet in a vertical direction, between a suctionposition where a tip end portion of the suction collet is in contactwith the back face of the adhesive sheet and a retracting position wherethe tip end portion is not in contact with the carry-in cassette. Thecontrol unit used in this case has a function of operating the colletmoving mechanism to move the tip end portion of the suction collet tothe suction position and then operating the pin moving mechanism to movethe tip end portion of the thrusting-down pin to the stripping-offposition in transferring the parts on the carry-in cassette onto thecarry-out cassette.

Preferably, the thrusting-down pin with the tapered tip end portion isused. The control unit may have functions of receiving measurement datafrom a measuring device for measuring a rank or a kind of each of theparts on the carry-in cassette, and when successively transferring theplurality of the parts on the carry-in cassette onto the carry-outcassette, recognizing the rank or the kind of each of the parts includedin the measurement data and setting the carry-out cassette correspondingto the rank or the kind as a destination to which each of the parts isto be transferred.

With the parts transferring apparatus according to claim 1 of theinvention, the tip end portion of the thrusting-down pin is brought intocontact with the back face of the adhesive sheet of the carry-incassette to thrust down the part, the thrust-down part is received bythe carry-out cassette and stuck on the adhesive sheet on the receivingface of the carry-out cassette, and the part is transferred from thecarry-in cassette to the carry-out cassette through this series ofsteps. In other words, in transferring from the carry-in cassette to thecarry-out cassette, the part does not come in direct contact with thetip end portion of the thrusting-down pin and the receiving face of thecarry-out cassette but comes in indirect contact with them through theadhesive sheets. Therefore, there is almost no fear of damaging thepart. Furthermore, because the part is transferred with the carry-outcassette positioned directly below the carry-in cassette, the stroke isshort and, as a result, the transferring time can be shortened. In theserespects, performance as the apparatus can be enhanced.

With the parts transferring apparatus according to claim 2 of theinvention, the part is held by the suction collet by suction through theadhesive sheet and, as a result, every part is thrust down in a stableattitude by the thrusting-down pin. Therefore, the thrust-down part canstably be stuck on the adhesive sheet of the carry-out cassette andperformance as the apparatus can be enhanced in this respect.

With the parts transferring apparatus according to claim 3 of theinvention, when the part is thrust down by the thrusting-down pinthrough the adhesive sheet, adhesiveness of the adhesive sheet of thecarry-in cassette is weakened. Therefore, the thrust-down part canreliably be stuck on the adhesive sheet of the carry-out cassette andperformance as the apparatus can be enhanced in this respect.

With the parts transferring apparatus according to claim 4 of theinvention, in successively transferring the plurality of parts on thecarry-in cassette to the carry-out cassettes corresponding to the ranksor the kinds of the parts, even if there are many kinds of carry-outcassettes, the transferring time does not become much longer andperformance as the apparatus can be enhanced in this respect.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a parts transferring apparatusaccording to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is Diagrams for explaining examples of a thrusting-down pin ofthe apparatus, wherein FIG. 2(a) is a side view and FIG. 2(b) is a frontview.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Modes for carrying out the present invention will be described below byreference to the drawings. A parts transferring apparatus A taken hereinas an example is disposed on a manufacture line of a light-emittingdiode 1 (part) and is an apparatus for stripping off a plurality oflight-emitting diodes 1 stuck on an adhesive sheet 11 of a carry-incassette 10 and successively transferring them to predeterminedcarry-out cassettes 20A, 20B, and 20C according to their ranks ofelectric/optical characteristics.

The rank of the electric/optical characteristics of the light-emittingdiode 1 is determined by a measuring device 90 disposed at a previousstage of the transferring apparatus A on the manufacture line.Measurement data output from the measuring device 90 is formed ofposition data indicating a position of the light-emitting diode 1 on thecarry-in cassette 10 or on a surface of the adhesive sheet 11 and rankdata indicating the rank (three ranks including A, B, and C) of theelectric/optical characteristic of the light-emitting diode 1. Themeasurement data of all the light-emitting diodes 1 stuck on theadhesive sheet 11 is output as a unit to a control unit 80 which will bedescribed later.

The parts transferring apparatus A includes: a carry-in cassette 10 to alower face of which an adhesive sheet 11 can be stuck, the plurality oflight-emitting diodes 1 being stuck on the adhesive sheet 11; athrusting-down pin 30 having a tip end portion which can come in contactwith a back face of the adhesive sheet 11 through an opening 101 of thecarry-in cassette 10; a pin moving mechanism 40 coupled to a base endportion of the thrust-down pin 30; a suction collet 50 through which thethrusting-down pin 30 is inserted; a collet moving mechanism 60 coupledto a base end portion of the suction collet 50; carry-out cassettes 20A,20B, and 20C for receiving the light-emitting diode 1 thrust down whenthe tip end portion of the thrusting-down pin 30 comes in contact withand deforms the adhesive sheet 11 of the carry-in cassette 10 into aprojecting shape, the cassettes 20A, 20B, and 20C mounted with adhesivesheets 21A, 21B, and 21C for sticking the light-emitting diodes 1 toreceiving faces 201A, 201B, and 201C; a cassette moving mechanism 70 forseparately moving the carry-in cassette 10 and the carry-out cassettes20A, 20B, and 20C; and the control unit 80 for controlling the pinmoving mechanism 40, the collet moving mechanism 60, and the cassettemoving mechanism 70 according to a sequence pattern required tosuccessively transfer the plurality of light-emitting diodes 1 on thecarry-in cassette 10 to the carry-out cassettes 20A, 20B, and 20C. Therespective portions will be described below in detail.

The carry-in cassette 10 is a cassette of circular frame body used forcarrying the light-emitting diodes 1 after measurement by the measuringdevice 90 on the manufacture line and has the opening 101 in itself. Theadhesive sheet 11 made of synthetic resin such as polypropylene isattached to a back face of the carry-in cassette 10 by using an outerframe 102. The plurality of light-emitting diodes 1 are stuck on anadhesive face of the adhesive sheet 11 in an arrangement at the time ofdancing of a wafer. Such a carry-in cassette 10 can be engaged with atip end portion of an upper arm 72 of the cassette moving mechanism 70(described later in detail).

The carry-out cassettes 20A, 20B, and 20C are rectangular cassettes usedfor respectively carrying the light-emitting diodes 1 of the ranks A, B,and C on the manufacture line and have upper faces as the receivingfaces 201A, 201B, and 201C. To the receiving faces 201A, 201B, and 201C,the adhesive sheets 21A, 21B, and 21C made of synthetic resin such aspolypropylene are attached. To the adhesive faces of the adhesive sheets21A, 21B, and 21C, the light-emitting diodes 1 transferred from thecarry-in cassette 10 can be stuck. Such carry-out cassettes 20A, 20B,and 20C can be engaged with a tip end portion of a lower arm 74 of thecassette moving mechanism 70 at constant intervals (described later indetail).

The thrusting-down pin 30 is a stick-shaped body having an outsidediameter slightly smaller than an inside diameter of the suction collet50 and has a tapered tip end portion. For example, there are pins of atype having a flat tip end face, a type having a tip end face with arecessed portion, and a type having a tip end face with a projectingportion as shown in FIG. 2 and it is preferable to cheese proper onewhich can easily strip the light-emitting diode 1 from the adhesivesheet 11 of the carry-in cassette 10 and can reliably stick thelight-emitting diode 1 to the adhesive sheet 21A of the carry-outcassette 20A or the like. The thrusting-down pin 30 is inserted into thesuction collet 50 and is supported for vertical movement.

The pin moving mechanism 40 is a motor feed mechanism disposed in midairand moves the thrusting-down pin 30 in a vertical direction. In otherwords, the mechanism 40 moves the thrusting-down pin 30 between astripping-off position where the tip end portion of the thrusting-downpin 30 comes in contact with the back face of the adhesive sheet 11 tostrip off the light-emitting diode 1 and a retracting position where thetip end portion is not in contact with the carry-in cassette 10 and theupper arm 72.

The suction collet 50 is a hollow cylinder having an outside diameterslightly smaller than the light-emitting diode 1. A vacuum pump (notshown) is connected to the collet 50. The thrusting-down pin 30 isinserted through the collet 50. The suction collet 50 is supported forvertical movement on a slide bearing 51 supported in midair.

The collet moving mechanism 60 is a motor feed mechanism disposed inmidair in the vicinity of the pin moving mechanism 40 and moves thesuction collet 50 in the vertical direction. In other words, themechanism 60 moves the suction collet 50 in the vertical directionbetween a suction position where the tip end portion of the suctioncollet 50 is in contact with the back face of the adhesive sheet 11 anda retracting position where the tip end portion is not in contact withthe carry-in cassette 10 and the upper arm 72.

The cassette moving mechanism 70 has an upper XY table 71 for moving theplate-shaped upper arm 72 in a horizontal direction and a lower XYZtable 73 for moving the plate-shaped lower arm 74 in the horizontal andvertical directions. A hole 721 is formed in the tip end portion of theupper arm 72 and the carry-in cassette 10 can be engaged with a lowerface of the tip end portion. When the carry-in cassette 10 is mounted ina downward orientation to the tip end portion of the upper arm 72, theopening 101 of the carry-in cassette 10 and the hole 721 communicatewith each other. On the other hand, with an upper face of the tip endportion of the lower arm 74, the carry-out cassettes 20A, 20B, and 20Ccan be engaged at predetermined intervals.

The upper XY table 71 is disposed in midair in the vicinity of thecollet moving mechanism 60 and moves the upper arm 72 with a largestroke in the horizontal direction to thereby move the carry-in cassette10 between a handing position where the cassette 10 can be handed by acarry-in cassette attaching/detaching device (not shown) and a positiondirectly below the thrusting-down pin 30 and the like. On the otherhand, the table 71 can move the upper arm 72 with a small stroke in ahorizontal direction to thereby position every light-emitting diode 1arranged on the carry-in cassette 10 directly under the thrusting-downpin 30 and the like.

The lower XYZ table 73 is disposed in midair at a position directlybelow the upper XY table 71 and moves the lower arm 74 with a largestroke in the horizontal direction to thereby move the carry-outcassette 20A, 20B, or 20C between a handing position where the cassette20A, 20B, or 20C can be handed by a carry-out cassetteattaching/detaching device (not shown) and a position directly below thethrusting-down pin 30 and the like. On the other hand, the table 73 canmove the lower arm 74 with a small stroke in the horizontal directionand the vertical direction to thereby bring the carry-out cassette 20A,20B, or 20C to a position close to the carry-in cassette 10 and toposition each part address position of the carry-out cassette 20A, 20B,or 20C directly under the thrusting-down pin 30 and the like.

As the control unit 80, a PC for control is used here. In other words,in addition to various signals output from the carry-in cassetteattaching/detaching device and the carry-out cassetteattaching/detaching device, measurement data output from the measuringdevice 90 is input to thereby sequentially control the pin movingmechanism 40, the collet moving mechanism 60, the upper XY table 71, andthe lower XYZ table 73 according to sequence patterns stored in advancein internal memory. Especially, in successively transferring theplurality of light-emitting diodes 1 on the carry-in cassette 10 to thecarry-out cassettes 20, the PC includes a function of recognizing therank data included in the measurement data to set the carry-out cassette20A, 20B, or 20C corresponding to the rank as a destination to which thelight-emitting diode 1 is to be transferred.

A sequence operation implemented by the control unit 80 is as follows.

First, the measurement data related to the light-emitting diode 1 on thecarry-in cassette 10 is input from the measuring device 90 and is storedin the internal memory. Then, when a signal announcing that the carry-incassette 10 is set at the tip end portion of upper arm 72 from thecarry-in cassette attaching/detaching device is input, the upper XYtable 71 is operated at a predetermined timing to move the carry-incassette 10 from the handing position to the position directly below thethrusting-down pin 30 and the like.

Then, the measurement data in the internal memory is read out, the upperXY table 71 is operated based on position data included in themeasurement data and the light-emitting diode 1 is brought to theposition directly below the thrusting-down pin 30 and the like. On theother hand, the lower XYZ table 73 is operated based on rank dataincluded in the measurement data and the carry-out cassette 20A, 20B, or20C corresponding to the rank of the light-emitting diode 1 is broughtto the position directly below the thrusting-down pin 30 and the like.In other words, the rank data included in the read-out measurement datais recognized and the carry-out cassette 20A is set as a destination towhich the light-emitting diode 1 is to be transferred when the rank ofthe light-emitting diode 1 is A. The lower arm 74 is moved so that thecarry-out cassette 20A is brought to the position directly below thethrusting-down pin 30 and the like. When the rank of the light-emittingdiode 1 is B or C, the lower arm 74 is moved similarly so that thecarry-out cassette 20B or 20C is brought to the position directly belowthe thrusting-down pin 30 and the like.

After such positioning, the pin moving mechanism 40 and the colletmoving mechanism 60 are operated to move down the thrusting-down pin 30and the suction collet 50 by a long distance to respectively move thepin 30 and the collet 50 from the retracting position to a positionslightly above and close to the back face of the adhesive sheet 11 ofthe carry-in cassette 10. Then, the vacuum pump is operated and thecollet moving mechanism 60 is operated. In this way, the suction collet50 is moved from the close position to the suction position to bring thetip end portion of the collet 50 in contact with a position on the backface of the adhesive sheet 11 of the carry-in cassette 10 where thesemiconductor chip 1 is stuck.

Then, slightly after the collet moving mechanism 60 is operated, the pinmoving mechanism 40 is operated. In this way, the thrusting-down pin 30is moved from the close position to the stripping-off position to bringthe tip end portion of the pin 30 into contact with the back face of theadhesive sheet 11 of the carry-in cassette 10 to thereby partiallydeform the adhesive sheet 11 into the projecting shape. As a result, thelight-emitting diode 1 is thrust down. If the rank of the thrust-downlight-emitting diode 1 is A, the diode 1 is received on the receivingface 201A of the carry-out cassette 20A and stuck to the adhesive sheet21A. The light-emitting diodes 1 of the ranks B and C are similarlyreceived on the receiving faces 201B and 201C of the carry-out cassettes20B and 20C and stuck to the adhesive sheets 21B and 21C.

After the thrusting-down pin 30 is moved to the stripping-off position,the pin moving mechanism 40 and the collet moving mechanism 60 areoperated reversely to respectively move the thrusting-down pin 30 fromthe stripping-off position to the close position and the suction collet50 from the suction position to the close position.

After the above processing is completed, the next measurement data inthe internal memory is read out and the similar processing is performed.If this is repeated, all the light-emitting diodes 1 on the carry-incassette 10 are successively transferred to the carry-out cassette 20A,20B, or 20C in this process.

If all the processings are completed, the pin moving mechanism 40 andthe collet moving mechanism 60 are operated to return the thrusting-downpin 30 and the suction collet 50 to a standby position. Then, the upperXY table 71 is operated reversely to move the carry-in cassette 10 tothe handing position.

During the above processing, when the number of light-emitting diodes 1transferred to the carry-out cassettes 20A, 20B, and 20C has reached apredetermined number or more, an interrupt processing is performed. Inother words, the lower XYZ table 73 is operated to move the carry-outcassettes 20A, 20B, and 20C to the handing position by the carry-outcassette attaching/detaching device. Then, if a signal announcing that anew carry-out cassette 20A, 20B, or 20C is set at the tip end portion ofthe lower arm 74 by the device is input, the lower XYZ table 73 isoperated reversely to move the carry-out cassettes 20A, 20B, and 20Cfrom the handling position by the carry-out cassette attaching/detachingdevice to the position directly below the thrusting-down pin 30 and thelike. Thus, the interrupt processing is completed.

According to the parts transferring apparatus A having the abovestructure, the tip end portion of the thrusting-down pin 30 and the tipend portion of the suction collet 50 do not directly come in contactwith the light-emitting diodes 1 on the receiving faces 201A, 201B, and201C of the carry-out cassettes 20A, 20B, and 20C and indirectly come incontact with the diodes 1 through the adhesive sheet 11 of the carry-incassette 10 and the adhesive sheets 21A, 21B, and 21C of the carry-outcassettes 20A, 20B, and 20C. Therefore, when the light-emitting diodes 1are transferred from the carry-in cassette 10 to the carry-out cassettes20A, 20B, and 20C, there is no fear that the light-emitting diodes 1 aredamaged.

Moreover, because the tip end portion of the thrusting-down pin 30 istapered, when the light-emitting diode 1 is thrust down, a substantialsticking area of the adhesive sheet 11 to the light-emitting diode 1 isreduced according to a degree of thrusting down of the diode 1 and, as aresult, adhesiveness is gradually weakened. Therefore, withoutespecially devising a method of providing greater adhesiveness to theadhesive sheet 21 of the carry-out cassette 20 than to the adhesivesheet 11 of the carry-in cassette 10, it is possible to reliably stickthe light-emitting diode 1 on the adhesive sheet 21 of the carry-incassette 10 to the adhesive sheet 21A, 21B, or 21C on the carry-outcassette 20 for being transferred.

Moreover, the light-emitting diode 1 is held by suction by the suctioncollet 50 through the adhesive sheet 11 and therefore every diode 1 canbe constantly thrust down by the thrusting-down pin 30 in a stableattitude. As a result, even if the light-emitting diode 1 is not stuckto the adhesive sheet 21 of the carry-in cassette 10 in a normalattitude, the light-emitting diode 1 can stably be stuck on the adhesivesheet 21A, 21B, or 21C of the receiving face 201A, 201B, or 201C of thecarry-out cassette 20A, 20B, or 20C.

Furthermore, because the light-emitting diode 1 is transferred to thecarry-out cassette 20A, 20B, or 20C directly below the carry-in cassette10, the stroke is shorter than that in the prior-art suction type andtherefore the transferring time can be shortened. In these respects,performance as the apparatus can be enhanced.

Of course objects of the parts transferring apparatus according to theinvention are not limited to the light-emitting diodes and the apparatusis applicable to any parts. Also, the numbers of carry-in cassettes andcarry-out cassettes may be changed, the suction collet may be omitted,and a thrusting-down pin which is not tapered may be employed, forexample. Methods of moving the thrusting-down pin, the carry-incassette, and the like are not limited to the above methods.

1. A parts transferring apparatus for stripping off a plurality of partsattached on an adhesive sheet of a carry-in cassette and transferringthe parts onto a carry-out cassette, the apparatus comprising: acarry-in cassette allowing attachment of an adhesive sheet onto a lowerface thereof for attaching the plurality of parts; a thrusting-down pinhaving a tip end portion contactable with a back face of the adhesivesheet through an opening in the carry-in cassette; a pin movingmechanism coupled to a base end portion of the thrusting-down pin forrelatively moving the thrusting-down pin in a vertical direction,between a stripping-off position where the tip end portion of thethrusting-down pin is in contact with the back face of the adhesivesheet to strip off the parts and a retracting position where the tip endportion is not in contact with the carry-in cassette; a carry-outcassette having a receiving face for receiving the parts thrust down byconvex deformation of the adhesive sheet of the carry-in cassette as aresult of contact of the tip end portion of the thrusting-down pin withthe adhesive sheet, the receiving face being attached with an adhesivesheet for receiving the parts; a cassette moving mechanism for movingthe carry-in cassette and the carry-out cassette; and a control unit forcontrolling the pin moving mechanism and the cassette moving mechanismaccording to a sequence pattern required to successively transfer theplurality of parts on the carry-in cassette onto the carry-out cassette.2. A parts transferring apparatus according to claim 1 furthercomprising: a suction collet including a hollow cylinder slightlysmaller than the parts and allowing insertion of the thrusting-down pintherethrough; and a collet moving mechanism coupled to a base endportion of the suction collet for relatively moving the suction colletin a vertical direction, between a suction position where a tip endportion of the suction collet is in contact with the back face of theadhesive sheet and a retracting position where the tip end portion isnot in contact with the carry-in cassette, wherein the control unit hasa function of operating the collet moving mechanism to move the tip endportion of the suction collet to the suction position and then operatingthe pin moving mechanism to move the tip end portion of thethrusting-down pin to the stripping-off position in transferring theparts on the carry-in cassette onto the carry-out cassette.
 3. A partstransferring apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the tip endportion of the thrusting-down pin is tapered.
 4. A parts transferringapparatus according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising a plurality ofcarry-out cassettes, wherein the control unit has functions of receivingmeasurement data from a measuring device for measuring a rank or a kindof each of the parts on the carry-in cassette, and when successivelytransferring the plurality of the parts on the carry-in cassette ontothe carry-out cassette, recognizing the rank or the kind of each of theparts included in the measurement data and setting the carry-outcassette corresponding to the rank or the kind as a destination to whicheach of the parts is to be transferred.